d remained
open, and even that was endangered by bands of rebels, who roamed
about in rear of our forces. At one time it is said they could
have captured him and his headquarters. Fortunately the tents
which constituted the latter were of so unpretending a character,
that they gave no indication of being tenanted by the commanding
general.

Hooker had resumed the command, although manifestly incapable of
directing affairs; for the concussion must have affected his brain.
At all events, although he had almost thirty-seven thousand fresh
men, ready and desirous of entering into the combat, and probably
only had about seventeen thousand worn out men in front of him, he
failed to do anything to relieve Sedgwick's force, which was now
becoming seriously compromised. A feeble and ineffectual reconnoissance
was indeed attempted, and as that was promptly resisted, Hooker
gave up the idea of any advance, and left Sedgwick to get out of
the difficulty the best way he could. At 11 A.M., Sedgwick wrote,
stating the obstacles which beset him, and requesting the active
assistance of the main army. He was directed, in reply, not to
attack, unless the main body at Chancellorsville did the same.
All remained quiet until 4 P.M. The Sixth Corps were then formed
on three sides of a square inclosing Banks' Ford, with the flanks
resting on the river. Howe's division faced east toward Fredericksburg,
against Early, who confronted him in that direction, and his left
stretched out to Taylor's Hill on the Rappahannock. Newton's
division, together with Russell's brigade of Brooks' division,
faced McLaws on the west, and Brooks' other two brigades--those of
Bartlett and Torbert--were opposed to Anderson on the south. The
entire line was very long and thin.

Early and McLaws had been skirmishing on their fronts all day, but
it was 6 P.M. before everything was in readiness for the final
advance. An attempt had, however, been made by Early to turn Howe's
left and cut Sedgwick off from the river; but it was promptly met
and the enemy were repulsed with a loss of two hundred prisoners
and a battle-flag.

Sedgwick felt his position to be a precarious one. His line was
six miles long, and he had but about twenty thousand men with which
to hold it against twenty-five thousand of the enemy. He thought,
too, that reinforcements had come up from Richmond and that the
enemy's force far exceeded his own. It was evident he could not
recross t